BRIERLEY Hill’s Festival of Water and Light has been saved after an events company agreed to buy the running rights for £1.

The popular boating festival, held annually in October, was dropped this year due to funding problems.

But Dudley Council has secured a £1 deal with Staffordshire based global events company CCEM which has agreed to take over responsibility for the waterways spectacular held at The Waterfront.

Council leader, councillor Les Jones, signed off an asset purchase agreement on Tuesday (November 8) with CCEM which it has worked with for a number of years.

The Tamworth based company, which has helped raise funding in previous years towards the cost of the event, agreed to pay the council the nominal fee of £1 to take over the running of the festival for future years.

Cllr Jones told the News: “We’ve had to look at our budgets very carefully this year and what I couldn’t justify was subsidising the event from the taxpayer’s purse.

“But I do think it’s a very important event and the fact that we’ve found a way to make it happen in future is great news.”